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Home » Recipes » Dinner » Beef » How to Quickly Thaw Ground Beef

How to Quickly Thaw Ground Beef

Published on August 6, 2012, Updated April 1, 2020 by Kristin Maxwell | 18 Comments

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Forgot to take that ground beef out of the freezer this morning and now it’s 4:00 and your kids are begging for tacos? Never fear – I’m going to show you to freeze your ground beef so you can thaw it quickly – in under 20 minutes – with no microwaving!

How to quickly thaw ground beef without microwaving - Last minute tacos for dinner? No problem!

One of those meals was my dad’s “famous” (in our house anyway) meatloaf. I’ll share the recipe with you later in the week, but I wanted to first share a little tip with you that I learned not too long ago that has made my life a heck of a lot easier.

If you already knew this, do me a favor and humor me, k?

I like to buy the bulk size packages of ground beef, but because we are a small family, I can actually get four meals out of a package.

I used to just cut the package in four equal parts and wrap and freeze it in a big chunk. But it would take FOREVER to thaw, and forget it if you just decided on the way home that you were making tacos. There was just no time to thaw the meat, and I hate thawing meat on my kitchen counter.

Sooooo I remember this trick a friend taught me and today I packaged up my meat like so:

After cutting the four equal chunks, I placed each portion in a sandwich size ziploc bag, flattened the meat, squeezed out as much air as possible, and placed them all in a larger bag.

I labeled the individual bag with the portion size (in this case it’s just less than a pound).

Flattening the meat makes for much less thawing time. In fact, just place the bag in a bowl of COLD water and it takes less than 30 minutes to thaw!

You now have your meat ready to make my dad’s “famous” meatloaf…

or any other of a variety of options.

I’ll share the meatloaf recipe with you later this week, as well as show you how I do this entire process, from frozen ground beef to hot, tasty meatloaf in under an hour.

What’s your favorite tip from the kitchen?

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About Kristin Maxwell

Kristin Maxwell is the creator and main recipe developer, writer, and photographer of Yellow Bliss Road. A self-taught cook and self-appointed foodie, she specializes in easy, flavorful and approachable recipes for any home cook. Read more about Kristin HERE.

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  1. Kim says

    January 23, 2020 at 11:44 am

    My favorite tip is cooking frozen meat in the crockpot. Low and slow and it comes out fine.

    Reply
    • Kristin Maxwell says

      January 24, 2020 at 2:52 pm

      Do you cook frozen ground beef this way?

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    September 28, 2019 at 9:35 am

    That’s how I freeze meat too, but I use a vacuum sealer

    Reply
  3. Marnelle C. says

    August 29, 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Thank you a thousand times for your tip – this has helped me out tremendously – cheers from Canada

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      August 31, 2019 at 10:49 am

      That’s great to hear, thanks Marnelle!

      Reply
  4. anna says

    July 5, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    I know this post is years old but I found it when I was looking for ways to quickly thaw ground beef. My darling boyfriend threw the entire 2 pound chunk of ground beef in the freezer so I guess we aren’t having that tonight. 😉

    Reply
  5. rhonda c smith says

    May 24, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    Wow! Thank you! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Dionne says

    April 14, 2017 at 10:19 am

    Thanks for the tip, unthawin my hamburger meat now in cold water

    Reply
  7. Toni says

    January 26, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    Thanks for the tip trying it out now

    Reply
  8. Loria says

    December 18, 2016 at 6:46 am

    Thanks for sharing and it’s a great idea.

    Reply
  9. Artstar says

    June 12, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    Thanks, needed to quickly thaw some meat for last minute company coming tonight.

    Reply
  10. Sheila B says

    December 1, 2015 at 9:08 am

    You can do this with any meat. That’s what I have done for years, with chicken, pork chops, etc. As long as it’s COLD water, there’s no chance of bacteria growth from not thawing it in the refrigerator.

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      December 1, 2015 at 11:01 am

      Yes, this is true. However other meats will take much longer than 20 minutes.

      Reply
  11. Carrie says

    August 11, 2012 at 1:20 am

    Love meatloaf and am looking forward to your family’s version!

    Reply
  12. Bonnie @ Uncommon says

    August 6, 2012 at 9:53 pm

    Oh…can not wait for the recipe! thanks for the great tip!!

    Reply
  13. T!na says

    August 6, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    Great tip. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  14. Grammy Goodwill says

    August 6, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    Good to know – now, if I can just remember it as well. hehehe

    Reply
  15. Kristen {Ella Claire} says

    August 6, 2012 at 7:26 am

    Great tip! Makes so much sense! Now I Am in the mood for meatloaf… 😉

    Reply

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